Inserting Summary Information

Word keeps track of summary information for a document. You can either use this summary information, or you can ignore it. Some of the summary information is automatically created for you while other parts need to be entered manually. One of the pieces of information maintained is the author of a document. This is originally set to be the Word user name, but you can change the author name at any time. Word allows you to insert summary information such as the author's name directly in your document, and have it updated automatically if you should ever change the information. This is done by following these steps:

1. Position the insertion point where you want the author name inserted.
2. Choose Field from the Insert menu. The Field dialog box is displayed.
3. Choose Document Information from the Categories list. (Click here to see a related figure.)
4. Choose Author from the Field Names list.
5. Click on OK.

There are many different bits of summary information you may want to include in your document. Here are a few:

You should note that not all of these fields can be inserted by selecting the Document Information field name category. For instance, CreateDate and SaveDate are inserted, instead, by first selecting the Date and Time category.